Purolator Courier Corp. v. Arkansas Air Courier, 86-5

• Decision Date: 14 July 1986
• Docket Number: No. 86-5,86-5
• Citation: 289 Ark. 455,712 S.W.2d 892
• Parties: PUROLATOR COURIER CORPORATION, Appellant, v. ARKANSAS AIR COURIER, Appellee.
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

Page 892

712 S.W.2d 892

289 Ark. 455

PUROLATOR COURIER CORPORATION, Appellant, v. ARKANSAS AIR COURIER, Appellee.

No. 86-5.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

July 14, 1986.

Friday, Eldredge & Clark by Michael G. Thompson, Little Rock, for appellant.

Compton, Prewett, Thomas & Hickey by Floyd M. Thomas, Jr., El Dorado, for appellee.

GEORGE ROSE SMITH, Justice.

The appellee, Arkansas Air Courier, applied to the Arkansas Transportation Commission for authority to transport by motor vehicle, between points in the State of Arkansas, various papers exchanged among banks, such as cash letters, data processing work, commercial paper, documents, and business records. The application was opposed only by the appellant, Purolator Courier Corporation. After a hearing the Commission granted the application. This appeal from the circuit court's affirmance of the Commission's order comes to this court under Rule 29(1)(d).

Our review in a case of this kind is de novo, much like that in a chancery appeal. Ark.Stat.Ann. § 73-1760(f) (Repl.1979), which incorporates § 73-134. The latter section provides that the Supreme Court shall review all the evidence and make such findings as are proper and equitable. Nevertheless, we must keep in mind that the Commission saw and heard the witnesses, whereas we review the record only. Consequently we uphold the Commission's order unless it is against the weight of the evidence. Wisinger v. Stewart, 215 Ark. 827, 223 S.W.2d 604 (1949). In the present case we find the Commission's order to be supported by the preponderance of the evidence.

The applicant, AAC, has been transporting bank paper since it obtained a federal interstate permit in 1976. At that time all its operations were by air, but the 1981 air controllers' strike reduced the availability of weather information to such an extent that AAC had to convert its business from air transportation to motor vehicle transportation. At first it conducted an intrastate business in Arkansas without a permit, because it was not sure that it needed a permit and was erroneously told by an employee of the Commission that no permit was required. In 1984 the present application for statewide authority was filed. AAC is a comparatively small individual proprietorship employing ten drivers and one aviation pilot. When the application was filed, AAC was serving about 80 banks in the state.

The protestant, Purolator, is a comparatively large company with interstate authority to serve virtually every point in the United States. It carries not only banking paper but also general commodities, by air as well as on the surface.

AAC's application was supported by the Arkansas branch of the Federal Reserve Bank and by the three large Little Rock banks, all of which serve as clearing houses for smaller banks throughout the state. Their witnesses discussed in great detail the importance that banks attach to the rapid transfer of commercial paper to and from the clearing houses, so that the banks can debit and credit the checks quickly and the customers have the...